2025

• Jan 2025: Event speaker (presenting on growth contributions from gender equality) at the Ignite Growth Conference 22-23 January 2025 organized by Advocata in Colombo (Sri Lanka). Sri Lanka’s first "Ignite Growth" economic conference brings together a panel of international and local experts who have successfully guided nations from recovery to sustainable economic growth. 

• May 20, 2025: Speaker (presenting "(Perceptions of) Inequality, Demand for Redistribution, and Group-Specific Public Goods: A Survey Experiment in India") at the International Research Workshop on Perceptions of Inequality hosted by the Perceptions of Inequality Research Programme at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science.

• Jun 12, 13 2025: Speaker at the HHDI-NIDE (Health and Human Development Initiative - Network of Irish-based Development Economists) Joint Workshop on Cultural Transmission and Persistence, Belfast Queen Business School. Presented the paper "From Patriarchy to Policy. Norms, Votes, and Gender Equal Laws" 

• June 16, 17 2025: Speaker (presenting the paper "From Patriarchy to Policy. Norms, Votes, and Gender Equal Laws") at the  "Inequalities and Opportunities. Insights into wealth, income and education disparities" international conference cohosted by Universita Sapienza, Roma, Universita di Bari, and Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research. 

2024

• Feb 2024: Another conversation on trade, gender inequality, and economic growth in South Asia with Advocata Chair, Murtaza Jafferjee, in Colombo (Sri Lanka) on Feb 2024. Video of the conversation here and a presentation of the South Asia Development Update here with slides.

• Jun 6-7 2024: Speaker (presenting Expanding opportunities: A map for equitable growth in South Asia) at the International Conference "Equality of Opportunity and Intergenerational Mobility. A Global Perspective" hosted by the University of Bari, Italy and the London School of Economics, London UK. 

• Jun 23-25 2024: Presenter at the Third International Behavioural Public Policy Conference (IBPPC), University of Cambridge – Downing College, UK. Together with Ana María Muñoz Boudet and Dana Qarout, I presented our research on the topic “Measuring Social and Gender Norms for Better Policy Design” in the eponymous thematic session (Maitland Room, Monday 24 June, 09:00-10:30).

• Jul 3-5, 2024: Presenter at the 32nd Annual Conference of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) – “Caught Between the Digital Revolution and a Crisis of Democracy: Feminist Economics Responses and Imaginations for the Future,” Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. I chaired and delivered the paper “Measuring Gender Norms in the Field” in the thematic session “Measurement, deconstruction, and assessment of gender norms in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa”.

• Nov 2024: 10th workshop of the of the Turin Centre on Emerging Economies: "Lessons learned and perspectives for the future". I organized and chaired the first session of workshop titled "Economic development, growth and inequality in emerging economies". See the full program here and my presentation on past perspectives and future views on inequality here (a short paper version of the presentation here).

• Dec 2024: A long(ish) conversation on "Empower to Prosper" our work on gender equality in South Asia with Advocata Chair, Murtaza Jafferjee, in Colombo (Sri Lanka) on Dec 2024. Video of the conversation here and the slides of the presentation. 

2023

• Dec 18-20, 2023 Presenter at the “Pathways to Development Conference 2023 – Inequalities and Social Justice”, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore, Pakistan (18–20 December 2023). Presented the paper “Wage Subsidies to Promote Female Hiring: Evidence from Pakistan*” (Rozee project) in the “Gender and Labour Markets” session. 

• Presenter at the Tenth Meeting of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ), Aix-Marseille School of Economics (AMSE), Aix-en-Provence, France (10–12 July 2023). I delivered the paper “Perceptions of the Income Distribution and Preferences for Redistribution: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in India”. Two additional co-authored studies — “Inequality of Opportunity in South Asia: Evidence from Sub-optimal Data” and “Shifting Vulnerability in Europe: A More Nuanced Approach to Identifying and Evaluating the Middle Class in the Region” — were presented by co-authors in parallel sessions.

2022

• May 12, 2022: Keynote presenter and expert panellist at the World Bank virtual event “Reshaping Social Norms about Gender – A New Way Forward”, hosted by the South Asia Chief Economist’s Office. I opened the session with the main findings from the South Asia Economic Focus 2022 report and, in a discussion moderated by Hans Timmer, joined policymakers and scholars to explore how shifting gender norms can boost women’s economic participation.

• Sep 29, 2022: Chair of the World Bank book launch “Hope Over Fate: Fazle Hasan Abed and the Science of Ending Global Poverty” (Washington, DC). Introduced the session and moderated the Q&A with author Scott MacMillan and South Asia Vice President Martin Raiser, underscoring lessons from Sir Fazle Hasan Abed’s work on global poverty reduction. 

2021

• Jul 8-10, 2021: Presenter at the Ninth Meeting of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ), an online conference hosted by the London School of Economics. Together with Ananya Kotia and Siddharth Sharma, I delivered the paper “Workers at Risk: Panel Data Evidence on the COVID-19 Labor Market Crisis in India” in a parallel session on the labor-market impacts of the pandemic.

2019

• Jan 22, 2023: OECD "New Approaches to Economic Challenges" Seminar Series: presentation of the report Towards a new social contract (22 Jan 2019, video and slides available here).

• Jan 23, 2019: WIDER Seminar Series: Towards a new social contract: taking on distributional tensions in Europe and Central Asia. Recording (only audio); Slides. 

• Apr 9-12, 2029: Keynote speaker at the XX April International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development, National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE), Moscow. Delivered the lecture “Toward a New Social Contract – Taking on Distributional Tensions in Europe and Central Asia,” outlining rising distributional tensions in the ECA region and policy responses for renewing the social contract.

• July 3–5, 2019: Co-author of three papers at the Eighth Meeting of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ), Paris School of Economics, Paris. I delivered “Change in Perceptions of Inequality and Demand for Redistribution”; my co-authors presented “Does Job Polarization Explain the Rise in Earnings Inequality? Evidence from Europe” (presented by Ivan Torre) and “Long-term Evolution of Inequality of Opportunity” (presented by Vito Peragine).

2018

• Keynote presenter at the World Bank report launch “Toward a New Social Contract: Taking on Distributional Tensions in Europe and Central Asia,” Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin (5 October 2018). Together with co-authors María E. Dávalos and Vito Peragine, I presented the report’s findings on inequality and rising social discontent in Europe and Central Asia to an audience of academics and policy professionals. Programme link: https://www.carloalberto.org/event/presentation-of-the-world-bank-report/  

• Keynote speaker at the Second International Seminar on the Active Ageing Index, organised by UNECE and the European Commission’s DG EMPL, Bilbao, Spain (27–28 September 2018). I delivered the address “Golden Aging: Is Active, Healthy and Prosperous Aging a Myth or a Realistic Goal?”, drawing on the World Bank’s Golden Aging study to explore demographic trends and policy options for healthy, productive ageing in Europe. Programme link: https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=20020&langId=en 

2017

• Presenter at the Seventh Meeting of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ), Graduate Center – City University of New York, USA (17–19 July 2017). I delivered the paper “The Distributive Impact of Terms of Trade Shocks”, co-authored with Patrizia Luongo. Two additional co-authored studies, including “Feeling Poor, Feeling Rich, or Feeling Middle-Class: An Empirical Investigation” and "Global inequality in a more educated world," were presented by co-authors. 

• Presenter at the “2017 IBS Jobs Conference: Technology, Demography and the Global Division of Labour”, Institute for Structural Research (IBS), Warsaw, Poland (6–7 December 2017). Delivered the paper “Global Inequality in a More Educated World”, providing simulation evidence that an impending education boom in developing countries could narrow global income inequality if labour markets successfully absorb the surge in skilled workers. Programme link: https://ibs.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/2017_IBS_Jobs_Conference-Agenda-1.pdf

2014

• Presenter: at the 17th GTAP Conference (Dakar, 18-20 June 2014) I presented “The coming wave of educated workers: size and impact on global inequality,” exploring how the forthcoming surge in educated labor will affect global inequality. Two other papers I co-authored were presented by my co-authors at this conference. 

2008

• Organizer: at the 11th GTAP Conference (Helsinki, 11–13 June 2008) I chaired the themed session “Climate Change – Impacts, Mitigation and Distribution” and personally presented “Economic Growth and Income Distribution: Linking Macroeconomic Models with Household-Survey Data”, while also co-authoring three additional papers (Global Climate Change and its Distributional Impacts; Will Panama Experience Large Poverty Effects from the Canal Expansion?; Global Income Distribution and Poverty in the Absence of Agricultural Distortions) that were delivered by my co-authors.

Earlier years

• Presenter at the 8th GTAP Conference (Lübeck, 9–11 June 2005; programme: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/events/conferences/2005/documents/program.pdf) where I delivered three papers—most notably “Do the Poor Benefit from Regional Trade Pacts? An Illustration from CAFTA in Nicaragua”—and co-authored “Structural Change and Poverty Reduction in Brazil,” which was presented by my co-author, analysing the distributional impact of regional trade agreements; organiser and chair at the 9th GTAP Conference (Addis Ababa, 14–16 June 2006; programme: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/events/conferences/2006/documents/program.pdf), leading the session “Globalization & Poverty—Channels and Policy Responses” and contributing “Millennium Development Goals for Honduras,” while additional co-authored papers were delivered by colleagues; and organiser and chair at the 10th GTAP Conference (West Lafayette, 7–9 June 2007; programme: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/events/conferences/2007/documents/program.pdf) where I headed the session “Measurement and Evolution of Global Disparities in Income and Wealth” and presented “Are Incomes Around the World Converging or Diverging?”, with further co-authored work presented by my co-authors.

This section is not finalized...

In chronological order:

Urbanisation vs. tradition: The paradox of female labour force participation in South Asia. Jan23, 2025

Empower to prosper: Women, jobs, and growth in South Asia. Oct 31, 2024

Following the norms interview on inGenere Oct 28, 2024

What we’re reading about job tenure in European labor markets Apr 12, 2023

Social Norms and Gender Equality in South Asia Oct 22, 2023

E-commerce is creating growth opportunities for small businesses in South Asia Feb 09, 2022

Son preference: Why we should care about it Oct 19, 2021

It takes two: Women's empowerment and couple concordance in South Asia Apr 13, 2021

COVID-19 has worsened the woes of South Asia's informal sector Dec 07, 2020

Do we need a new social contract? Apr 11, 2019

Is there a middle-class crisis in Europe? Mar 22, 2018

A three part blog: 

Is there something wrong with us economists? Feb 23, 2017

In defense of the besieged economist (part II): The global middle class Mar 07, 2017

In defense of the besieged economist (part III): It’s not just economics Mar 30, 2017

Can aging be good for societies as well as individuals? Jun 17, 2015

Forthcoming

Ongoing

• Member of the Scientific Committee of the Turin Centre on Emerging Economies

2025

• Mar 2025: Visiting professor . 

• May 20, 2025: Speaker (presenting "(Perceptions of) Inequality, Demand for Redistribution, and Group-Specific Public Goods: A Survey Experiment in India") at the International Research Workshop on Perceptions of Inequality hosted by the Perceptions of Inequality Research Programme at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science.